School buses are a perfect vehicle to go EV. They run (relatively) short, consistent routes twice a day and unless there’s a school trip or something, sit idle the rest of the time. I almost would’ve preferred if the EV transition we’re thoroughly within now would’ve started with things like this and the Rivian van and that god awful looking new USPS truck
What do you think? Rolling blackouts to keep the shitty grid intact while still charging all of these? or fix the grid and pass the cost onto the consumer?
That program is already in place in most areas. It will take time is all. As each ICE vehicles ages out/needs replaced, it will be replaced with an EV type. Cannot waste the inventory already held, so it will be a process done over time.
It’s a much better use case than Tesla’s idiotic electric semi truck, where the best thing they could do is get to accelerate quickly, something that is needed by exactly zero truckers.
I almost would’ve preferred if the EV transition we’re thoroughly within now would’ve started with things like this and the Rivian van and that god awful looking new USPS truck
It should have, but fossil fuel lobbyists convinced Republicans to force USPS to prefund retirements so they couldn’t afford the transition.
It isn’t exactly an efficient use of limited resources (battery cells) to put a 300 mile battery in something as large as a school bus that only drives short distances every day. That could be up around 300 kWh. What if it only drives 30 miles per day the vast majority of days? It’s only using 10% of the total pack capacity daily. Not saying buses shouldn’t be electric, just that maybe they should be plug in hybrids with smaller batteries and a gas range extender for long trips.
The efficiency could be improved if the battery served as grid storage while not in use, but still not optimal because it’s not permanently attached to the grid and may be on the road during peak hours.
School buses are a perfect vehicle to go EV. They run (relatively) short, consistent routes twice a day and unless there’s a school trip or something, sit idle the rest of the time. I almost would’ve preferred if the EV transition we’re thoroughly within now would’ve started with things like this and the Rivian van and that god awful looking new USPS truck
Most government fleet vehicles should be electric
Fleets should have been hybrids for the last decade transitioning to plug in electric hybrids as electric charging infrastrure was deployed.
What do you think? Rolling blackouts to keep the shitty grid intact while still charging all of these? or fix the grid and pass the cost onto the consumer?
That program is already in place in most areas. It will take time is all. As each ICE vehicles ages out/needs replaced, it will be replaced with an EV type. Cannot waste the inventory already held, so it will be a process done over time.
Mail Vans would also be a great way to start on Hybrids.
Idle while on electric. And use gas when needed
It’s a much better use case than Tesla’s idiotic electric semi truck, where the best thing they could do is get to accelerate quickly, something that is needed by exactly zero truckers.
Pretty sure reducing the emissions of the largest road-based emissions producer is an important thing to work towards
Adam something would like to bring nuances to what you say
I think your overlooking the part where the buses go back to the terminal to charge all at the same time and require a small nuclear power plant.
all the big buses in the city i live in are electric now (maybe not all but 75%? and public transportation is mainly used)
In small municipalities that bus makes 9 trips a day. High-school, middle school and am/pm kindergarten.
It should have, but fossil fuel lobbyists convinced Republicans to force USPS to prefund retirements so they couldn’t afford the transition.
It isn’t exactly an efficient use of limited resources (battery cells) to put a 300 mile battery in something as large as a school bus that only drives short distances every day. That could be up around 300 kWh. What if it only drives 30 miles per day the vast majority of days? It’s only using 10% of the total pack capacity daily. Not saying buses shouldn’t be electric, just that maybe they should be plug in hybrids with smaller batteries and a gas range extender for long trips.
The efficiency could be improved if the battery served as grid storage while not in use, but still not optimal because it’s not permanently attached to the grid and may be on the road during peak hours.
Most rural buses are On the road for at least 4 hours a day. 45-1 hr trips to school are common.
And that assumes all ages in the same bus.